Month: October 2023

Bible Passage For The Day 10-25-2023

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1 Corinthians 2:10-13

But to us God revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the depths of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the depths of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the depths graciously given to us by God, 13 of which depths we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual depths with spiritual words.

Jesus Heals The Woman Of Her Hemorrhage. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE study #71 (Luke 8:40-48)

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We are now getting really close to the end of Jesus’ Galilean ministry. In fact it will be in the next chapter where we will see Jesus withdraw from going from city to city in the Galilean region and will be on the outskirts of the cities. By the time we get towards the end of chapter 9, Jesus will start making His move towards Jerusalem in what we call the later Judean ministry. But for now we will continue to look at how Jesus ministered in this area. In our last study we learned that Jesus and His disciples went to the region of the Gaderenes. There Jesus delivered two demoniacs of the demons that held them in bondage. As we learned one of those men truly was converted and wanted to follow Jesus but Jesus left him in that area to be a witness for God.

The people there rejected Jesus and pleaded with Him to leave their region. Of course we see at the end of our text last time that He got back on the boat and left the area. These events that we will see in this study takes place just after they make landfall again back in Capernaum. Let’s look at our text and our first point.

1.Jarius pleads with Jesus to heal his daughter.
Look with me at Luke 8:40-42 And as Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed Him, for they had all been waiting for Him. 41 And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was an official of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus’ feet, he began to plead with Him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying. But as He went, the crowds were pressing against Him.

What we see here is set in the text as the context of the event that we will actually talk about in this study. In the next study we will look at what Jesus actually does when He arrives at Jairus’ house. So as we see the context is that Jesus returned.

The first thing is where did Jesus return too? If you look back into the events leading up to this in Luke and the other Gospels I think we can conclude that He was around Capernaum most likely. This was in fact His new hometown and where He spent a lot of time when He was not traveling to other locations. This would be where Peter and the other disciples that were fishermen would have the boats that they used to cross the Sea of Galilee at times. So I believe we see Jesus return back to Capernaum and as soon as He makes landfall the crowd was there waiting on Him. I believe that they knew if Jesus had left from there that in fact that He would return there at some point. The people would have probably been informed by someone that they could see Jesus and His disciples approaching the shore.

So here Jesus steps off of the boat from a journey that started the evening before until this moment. We can assume that this would be about mid morning or so. The people probably anticipated Jesus’ return every time they knew He was gone and here is no different. Here we see that our text says in Luke 8:41-42b And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was an official of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus’ feet, he began to plead with Him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying.

This request sends Jesus in the direction of Jairus’ house. We aren’t sure how far this was from the shore but we do know that Jesus starts going that way by what we see in Luke 8:42b that says But as He went, the crowds were pressing against Him.

We will go into greater detail about Jairus in our next study but what I want us to see here is that the crowds were pressing against Him. This will be an important detail as we move into our look at the woman with the hemorrhage. Let’s look now at our next point.

2.The woman’s faith in Jesus’ power to heal.
Look with me at Luke 8:43-44a And a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone, 44 came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His garment.

There is no other way to look at this than to look at this as this woman having faith in Jesus to heal her disease. This woman would have been desperate at this point. She had been to doctors that never helped. In fact Mark 5:26 says that she had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse.

So this attempt to touch Jesus was not superficial or empty. This was not an act like false faith healers will present in our time that say if you have enough faith then you will be healed. This woman’s life was wasting away physically and financially. According to Old Testament law she would have been considered unclean and ousted socially as well. She would be treated like a leper that would not be accepted into any social event and was not allowed to be touched. Of course her issue would not be visible like a leper so it was her place to stay away because of this reason. But just like the leper we saw back in Luke 5 this woman went against everything she knew to be right to come to Jesus.

Mark’s account gives to us a little more insight into her motive to reach out to Jesus at this moment. Mark 5:27-28 says that after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His garment. 28 For she was saying, “If I just touch His garments, I will be saved from this.”

Simply this woman knew that Jesus could heal her of this horrible issue that she had been dealing with for twelve years. Could you imagine going through something for so long? I know many people have dealt with many different types of diseases and illnesses but this seems to be very extreme. This of course leads us to the actual moment that she touches Jesus that we will look at in our next point.

3.The woman is healed and Jesus displays His sovereignty.
Look with me at Luke 8:44b-46 and immediately her hemorrhage stopped. 45 And Jesus said, “Who is the one who touched Me?” And while they were all denying it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds are surrounding and pressing in on You.” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone did touch Me, for I knew that power had gone out of Me.”

As always, there is no recovery time when Jesus heals a person. She touched Him and she was immediately healed of this illness that had made her live in poverty and as an social outcast. This section of Scripture not only shows the power of Jesus which is very important but it also shows to us the fact that Jesus is sovereign. Most people would want to look at this and say that this disproves Jesus’ sovereignty. We must look at the fact that Jesus is not asking who touched Me because He didn’t know who it was but in fact He knew exactly who it was. Here in Luke we see Jesus say “Who is the one who touched Me?”

In Mark 5:30b Jesus says “Who touched My garments?”

This seems to be a question of wonder about who it was that touched Him. In fact Luke 8:45b says And while they were all denying it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds are surrounding and pressing in on You.”

Mark’s account says that the disciples were all saying this to Him because it seemed impossible to point out who may had touched Him because they were all pressing in on Him. In fact many people could have touched Jesus during this time but He was only trying to point out one person. Jesus knew who it was and said in verse 46 But Jesus said, “Someone did touch Me, for I knew that power had gone out of Me.”

Jesus knew because of His sovereignty, He knew because power had come from Him to heal. It was in this moment that He was wanting this woman to come out among the people to express her faith before them all. In Mark’s account we see Jesus’ sovereignty in the fact that Mark 5:32 says And He was looking around to see the woman who had done this.

He knew who it was but was wanting her to come forward but she had slipped back into the crowd until she realizes that Jesus knew that it was her. Luke 8:47 says And when the woman saw that she had not escaped notice, she came trembling. And falling down before Him, she declared in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched Him and how she had been immediately healed.

What drove this outcast woman that would be considered unclean to go into the crowd to touch the garment of Jesus? It was her faith in Jesus to heal her. Remember back in Mark 5:28 she said “If I just touch His garments, I will be saved from this.”

That is what drove her to do what she did but I also want to point out that this does not mean that she was seeking to be saved from her sins. Notice that she was looking to be saved from this horrible illness. This does not mean that this is the norm either. It is not normal throughout Jesus’ life to see people healed upon touching His clothes. This moment was out of the ordinary but once again shows us that Jesus has a power that is beyond any human ability.

As we draw to a close in this study I do want to point out that even though she was only looking to be healed of her illness that she also was saved in a salvific way as well. This day she was healed of her sickness but also born again. Jesus says in Luke 8:48 “Daughter, your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

I want to show that this is not meaning that she was just saved from her illness but also from her sins. Mark 5:34 says And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you; go in peace and be healed of your affliction.”

We see the clear separation in the text in Mark. Her faith is what saved her from her sins and it is Jesus’ power that has healed her of her affliction. I think often this story is looked at as if she had to have this faith in order to be healed but in reality her faith is pointed toward her faith to be healed from her sins. She thought if she could only touch the garment that she would be healed and she was but again not everyone that touched Jesus was healed. Not everyone that touched Jesus with the same faith that this woman had was healed. Many people when they get sick believe that God can heal them but it is only in God’s sovereignty that any healing will ever happen.

Here we clearly see that Jesus heals her physically and spiritually. It is in God’s sovereignty that any of this could be possible and we see that so clearly from this text.

As we move along in our next study we will complete the 8th chapter as we look into what happens as Jesus goes to Jairus’ house.

Bible Passage For The Day 10-21-2023

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Matthew 14:28-33

And Peter answered and said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” 29 And He said, “Come!” And getting out of the boat, Peter walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” 31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind stopped. 33 And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are truly God’s Son!”

Bible Passage For The Day 10-20-2023

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John 1:29-34

On the next day, he *saw Jesus coming to him and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who has been ahead of me, for He existed before me.’ 31 I did not know Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing with water.” 32 And John bore witness saying, “I have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He abided on Him. 33 And I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The One upon whom you see the Spirit descending and abiding on Him, this is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I myself have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

Sarah And Abraham Receive Their Promised Son By Faith. LIVING BY FAITH IN TRIALS AND SUFFERING study #6 (A Study in Hebrews 11)(Hebrews 11:11-12)

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As we begin this study we will really tie together what we learned about Abraham in our last study to the topic of his wife Sarah. Abraham and Sarah are the most known couple in the Old Testament by the fact that they received a child at such an old age. This will be what we see in this study but we will also look back briefly at a couple of verses from our previous study to tie all of this together so that we can get the entire picture of what was happening at this time. What we will see is that not only did Abraham have faith but his wife did as well. We will look at their disbelief of being able to conceive at an old age or the lack of understanding in how God would do all of this. This will show us many things as we dive into this portion of our study here in Hebrews 11. Let’s look now at our first point and our first verse for this study.

1.The faith of Sarah.
Look with me at Hebrews 11:11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 

This miraculous conception is not something that Sarah nor Abraham designed or planned. If they were to choose their way they would have had a child at an early age but this conception was God’s plan in the story of redemption. It was God that made Abraham righteous and it is God that makes Sarah righteous as well. How do we know that Sarah is righteous? Simply by the words we see at the beginning of verse 11 here: By faith Sarah.

As we have made clear, no one is righteous within themselves and no one has faith in God unless God draws that person to Himself. So along with her husband Abraham, Sarah is a person of faith. Here in our text we see that Sarah had faith in which she received power to conceive. At first it looks as if Sarah had faith and therefore she was given the power to be able to conceive. In other words it looks like this was something that was solely dependent on her faith but that is not what we see in the original account.

To see this account let’s look first at God’s covenant with Abraham as we looked at last time from Genesis 15:1-6 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

This is the promise that Abraham would have an heir of his own. We do not know for certain at Abraham’s age here but we do know that he was already over 70 by the time he leaves from Haran. This places Sarah at around 60. It must have not been outside of their thinking at this point that they were to old to have a child because Abraham does not show any signs of wonder at this point. So if you move along in Abraham and Sarah’s life we see in Genesis 17 that God makes the covenant of circumcision with Abraham. We know that Abraham is 99 at this point by what is said in verse one of that chapter.

Then God gives to Abraham the promise of Isaac down a little further, God says this in Genesis 17:16-17 I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”

Some see Abraham’s reaction as a sign of disbelief but we know in Romans 4:18-21 that this was not the case, it says In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

So Abraham had faith but our Hebrews text speaks of Sarah’s faith so let’s look at her reaction to this promise. Look with me at Genesis 18:10-15 The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” 13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” 15 But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

It was at this time that God told Abraham that the time was here that his wife Sarah would conceive. Sarah’s reaction was just like Abraham’s reaction in that she laughed seeing that she knew she was beyond the age to carry a child naturally. Of course we know that all of this happened as God said but it was not ever dependent on whether they had personal faith or not. The faith they had was something they had because of the working of God inside of them. So it was by God’s power that Sarah conceived and in that she had faith in God. I want to look at another aspect of this story as we move now to our next point.

2.Having patience in our suffering produces faith.
Look with me at Hebrews 11:12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

In order to see God work things out the way He would want for us, we must have patience and contentment. We must not lose our focus and do as Sarah and Abraham did when Abraham had a child with Hagar. That was not God’s promised child and was not the promise given to Abraham. Sometimes people wonder at how God allowed this type of behavior by still allowing Ishmael to be born. God would still allow this child to be born but it would not be through Ishmael that the promise of being a blessed nation would be. This is the tension we know that exist to this vey day between the Jewish nation and the Islamic nations. Even though the Islamic nation is descendants through Ishmael the promise was given to Isaac as stated in Genesis 17:18-22 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” 19 God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”

So what we see is that both Ishmael and Isaac will be great nations but it would be only Isaac that would receive the promises of the land and the covenants in association to Messiah. This of course brought turmoil from the beginning between Abraham’s two sons. But as you move along in the life of Abraham and Sarah you will see Abraham tell Hagar to leave from them. I know this had to be hard on Abraham but it would be the obedience of both Sarah and Abraham that would prove their faith in God’s promises.

As they live their life they do not have a homeland but remain as foreigners in a land that was only promised to his offspring. That really takes us back to where I wanted to land in this study and that is what we see in Hebrews 11:9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.

Even though both Abraham and Sarah thought that them having a child was something beyond what could happen, they both remained faithful. They may have seen what seemed impossible to them as something funny but this would continue to build their faith. I think we spiritualize the people in the Bible so much that we tend to think they were the same as they were the day they started following God, but just like us, they too would be growing more and more in their trust in God as they saw Him do the impossible in their life.

I know for me I often have seen God work in situations that I thought I would never get out of. I may not see a miraculous conception as we have studied on in this study but to see God work in my life, removing sin in my life and in the life of others, to see my mom nearly die a couple of times from her bout with cancer to living normal again, to seeing the worse person that you may think could never be saved start living for Christ is all that I need to build my faith more and more in God.

The key to each of these is the same thing we see in Abraham and Sarah’s lives which is to be patient. Even though they would never see the fulfillment of all of the promises they knew that God would do what He said He would do. This is what we see in Hebrews 11:12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

They did become the parents, if you will, of many descendants not just from an ancestral sense but also from a spiritual sense. Romans 4:16 says That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

It was by faith that they both received the promises that went beyond any temporal blessing to a heavenly reward. We will see 2 studies from now the faith of Abraham tested once again but for our next study we will look at how we should be living our lives in obedience by faith for something beyond our hopes of seeing promises fulfilled in this lifetime.